There are many applications where it is necessary to drill, nail or cut into an overhead surface, such as a concrete ceiling or a drywall ceiling. Such overhead surfaces can vary in their height from the floor. For example, before installing fasteners into concrete ceilings for overhead surfaces, it is usually necessary to first drill holes. Such holes are typically drilled using a hand-held power drill. In most applications, many such holes must be drilled within a single area. This means repetitive use and repositioning of the drill by the user. This repetitive overhead drilling creates a great deal of physical strain for a worker because, not only must the worker support the weight of the drill, but the worker must apply upwardly drilling force as well.
A fundamental problem with this type of work is reaching the overhead surface in the first place. In order to do that, the worker must typically construct scaffolding or ascend a ladder or other elevating device to drill each hole. For taller ceilings, a ladder may not reach or, because obstacles may not be able to be placed directly under the surface to be drilled or close enough to the drilling surface, the worker must dangerously overextend to drill the holes. In addition, standing on a ladder or other elevating device places the worker in close proximity to the dust and debris associated with the drilling of overhead concrete or other surfaces.
Stands for supporting a drill are known in the art. One example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,724 (Hurt '724). For height adjustment, the stand taught by Hurt '724 uses a lever pivotally connected at a pivot point to a support collar, which is connected to the lower end of an outer column. An inner column is slidably located within the outer column. A linkage pivotally connects the lever to a locking compression collar and locking clamp. To adjust the height of the drill stand, the worker must unlock the locking clamp and then manually slide, in unison, the locking compression collar and locking clamp, the linkage, the support collar and outer column, and the lever upward or downward on the inner column, all while holding the inner column steady by positioning one of his or her feet on a foot plate. When the desired position is reached, the worker must manually lock the locking clamp.
The height adjustment and locking mechanism taught by Hurt '724 is not desirable because it is cumbersome to use. The worker must use both of his or her hands to move all the necessary components and at least one of his or her feet to steady the drill stand. When the selected height is reached, the worker must remove one of his or her hands from the adjustment and locking mechanism components to lock the locking clamp, while supporting all components with the remaining hand. In addition, drill stand taught by Hurt '724 must be picked up and carried from one drilling location to the next. Further, the drill stand of Hurt '724 does not use, teach or suggest the use of a structure that can be used to quickly and easily remove the power hand tool from atop the stand such that a second power hand tool can replace the first. This inventor has overcome these shortcomings as is described in greater detail in his co-pending application, U.S. Pub. No. US 2011/0255929 titled Universal Drill Stand, which application is incorporated herein by reference.
In view of the foregoing, however, this inventor has found that it is also desirable to have an assembly that is easily mounted to the top of a height-adjustable power hand tool stand. It is also desirable to have such an assembly where a first power hand tool can quickly and easily be removed and replaced with a second such tool. It is also desirable to have such an assembly where a plurality of hand tools can be used simultaneously. Further, it is desirable to have such an assembly that secures the power hand tool, or the plurality of hand tools, in a way that provides safety redundancy and ensures that the power hand tool or tools cannot be removed unless such is desired or required.